Apparently this story was a bit premature and possibly not true. The links to the Church News and Events page are now gone. The volunteer site is still up but I would imagine that link will not be working soon. Sorry for the false alarm. It might have been a great opportunity. I guess we will just wait and see if something more is published. I will probably be taking this post down soon so as not to create any further confusion. I hesitate to take it down immediately because I am aware others have linked to it. I am trying to make sure that all those that may have seen this information learn what happened before their links go dark.
PLEASE READ THE ABOVE FIRST
I just found out about a great opportunity to get involved in Japan. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is organizing a volunteer effort based out of Tokyo. Here is a link to the article from Church News and Events.
In essence the LDS Church is looking for individuals willing to arrange their own travel to get to Japan between July 18th and August 30th. Once in Tokyo the Church will pay for you to be transported to areas in the country that are still in need of help. These will be two week long tours.
They have set up a website with information on this opportunity. Elder Gary E. Stevenson, President of the Asia North Area has set a goal of 130,000 volunteers. Now that is a lot of people! You have to be 18 years of age or older. Junior and high school aged kids can go if accompanied by a parent or adult leader.
You have to register 14 days before the tours begin. The exception obviously being the first tour that starts on the 18th of July.
It appears that the volunteer site is still up and running, and all the info is there so I assume this program is still a GO. Maybe the church news site is just not ready to officially announce it, or there was a problem with the original link to the article? I would encourage you to keep the blog post up. You were featured today in the Mormon Times, so you will be getting extra traffic. Love your site - cheers, MoSop
ReplyDeleteMoSop,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. From what I am hearing from within my department I am not as certain that this will ever get legs. I will leave the post up because I am finding that it has been helpful in identifying those folks who have become confused about the whole intiative. It appears to be a project that was almost official but not entirely. However, I am not close enough to those in charge to say anything definatively. Thanks again for your support, happy blogging!
Barett